Persona: Reverie of Memories REmembrance
by Kaito Kiyomizu
Summary: Set in the year 2022, this story is about a teenage slacker who transfers into town when an epidemic breaks out that causes people to enter a wakeless sleep. He contracts the disease one night but is somehow able to free himself with the help of a "Persona". Using his powers, he rescues others from their sleep and all the while finds that he is much more important than he realizes.
1. Prologue and Chapter 1: Arrival

**Author's Ramblings: **Technically this story has been told before on GameFAQs in the form of a CYOA that I ran as FireDragoon18 of GameFAQs. The last CYOA topic I created before its untimely demise can be found as of today on the Persona 4 Golden Message board. Just type in "CYOA" in the search box and you'll find it.

There was no real fitting conclusion to the story (mostly due to my own laziness and reader inactivity after the MC got paired off), so I decided to reformat the story into a full-fledged fanfiction so that the story would be a bit more cohesive and complete, not depend on reader input, and hopefully expose more to the story. However, I do stress that I am not the most knowledgeable person out there when it comes to English, so I apologize if the story is not as interesting as others on this site. This is probably meant for me to have a record that I actually did write a story so I can look back and say, "Damn...!"

REmembrance is just a reference to how this is a reformatting of the previous story and I guess Re: Chain of Memories popped into my head.

**Stuff that's actually related to the story: **This story is told in a second-person POV, namely the protagonist's to emulate the feel of the games. The story will include characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4. It will also be pretty damn long in terms of chapters because I like to ramble about certain things. And I like to utilize ellipses (...) to signify time has past and boredom in dialogue.

Again, I apologize if my writing is too horrific for human eyes.

**Disclaimer: **Persona 3 (c) Atlus

Persona 4 (c) Atlus

* * *

**Prologue**

The nurse wheeled in a man on a stretcher into the room. The man appeared to be unconscious, for the rumbling of the stretcher could not wake him. A man dressed in a white coat, most likely a doctor shouted, "Damn it, another one?!" He quickly attached the man to a heart rate monitor. He looked at the screen for a few moments and sighed.

"What's the condition on the patient?" the nurse asked.

The doctor announced, "He shows the signs of being in a coma. He's breathing and his body isn't deteriorating, but… he has no pulse."

"Are you sure there isn't a faint pulse?" the nurse inquired.

"There's nothing," the doctor stated flatly. "What's worse is this condition seems to be somehow contagious. This is the tenth one I've seen today."

The doors swing open again and another nurse brings in two more unconscious patients. The doctor mumbled, "What in God's name is happening?"

* * *

**Chapter 1: Arrival**

You wake up and find a new day has dawned on the town of Hisokuto. Not that it matters to you. To you it's another city which you will live in for a year, max. You have lost count of how many times you've had to move, but you think it's the ninth. You contemplate about your life and how it spiraled out of control ever since… _that_ incident. Afterwards, your life was never the same. You've been juggled between relatives and schoolwork became an afterthought. However, this time, you've been allowed to live on your own. You found a rather cheap apartment within the city. The real challenge was trying to find a school that would actually accept you.

Once you're done brooding, you realize you have to get ready for school. You jump out of bed and open up your closet. You never were one for fashion, so the clothes in this closet will likely be found in next year's closet as well. You locate your new school's uniform, a white dress shirt and black dress pants. You waste no time in getting dressed. Despite being spring, it's quite chilly, so you decide to put on a jacket. However, you seemed to have misplaced your school jacket… You decide to wear your old, yet reliable jacket you've worn for years. A black jacket with a hood that cleverly has pictures depicting the white skeleton of wearer. Before you head out the door of your modest apartment, you look in the mirror. Your black hair hangs straight down like always, just above your blood red eyes (which you honestly think was a result of some freak mutation). You notice that some hair is sticking out on the back of your head, which often happens to you. However, you are often too lazy to brush it out… No wonder you were nicknamed "bed head" at your old school. You decide to exit your apartment.

Despite being in a new city, you find your new school with relative ease. It helps that the school is only a few blocks away from your apartment. The metal school gates are opened, allowing people onto the school grounds. You follow the wave of students to the school doors, but not before you hear some students gossiping about you.

"Hey, that new guy…"

"What about him?"

"I heard he got kicked out the last eight schools he's been to."

"Really? Is he a troublemaker?"

"No, I just heard he didn't do anything. At all. He wouldn't do homework or study. He still attended class, but he didn't talk to anyone."

"Wow… You can tell from that bed head."

"I heard…"

Normally, you'd let it go, but for some reason, you want to tell them off.

You turn around and face the girls who were whispering to each other about you. You walk over to them, intending to say something, but they scatter as soon as you enter their gaze.

... Girls. You never will understand them.

You leave the girls be for now and head on into the school building. A friendly boy in a school uniform hold the door open for you. His long dark navy hair reaches to his shoulders. He smiles to you as you enter the door. You thank him and proceed on your way.

So this is Meguro High school. This will be the hellhole you'll be attending for a year. Hooray.

You take off your shoes and put them in the school's designated shoe lockers. You advance further into the building and find it's rather old fashioned. A wooden floor extends horizontally from where you stand. In front of you a group of students swarm over what appear to be the classroom assignments. You locate the list for class 11 and scan it for your name.

You find the number, "201" next to your name. That's probably your classroom number.

You notice a blond ponytailed girl next to you. Her bangs frame her face and her ponytail is long enough to wrap around her neck. She mumbles, "Hmm… 201?" She suddenly bursts away from the crowd.

Being a master of reasoning, you deduce that she must be heading to room 201.

You figure she's heading for room 201, so you decide to follow her.

After you follow her up some stairs, you see her immediately enter a room on the second floor. You walk over to the blue door and see a small wooden sign, showing the number "201". This must be the place. You promptly open the door.

Behind the door lies a rather basic classroom, virtually the same as the classrooms of your eight other schools. The floor is brown hardwood with some 30 desks lined up in 6x5 rows. The desks on the far right have three large windows displayed to their left.

In your old schools, you typically found a seat in the back, and this time is no different. You find a convenient window seat in the back and sit down. The other students, dressed in their black uniforms, are talking to each other enthusiastically, sharing their stories of how they spent their breaks. It's as if everyone here has known each other since elementary school… You feel like an outsider.

You turn your head to the left and look at the scattered trees that decorate the school's courtyard. Nothing passes through your mind… At this moment, you're pretty much spacing out.

Your thoughts or rather, your lack of them is interrupted when someone pokes your head. You turn your head to find that blond girl sitting backwards in the desk in front of you.

Once she's sure she's got your attention she smiles and says, "Hey there, you must be that new kid everyone's been talking about!"

You can only wonder what they're saying.

"Oh, mostly about how you slacked off and got kicked out of every school you've been to.

There's also a rumor about how you once stayed in school overnight because you were too lazy to move out of the seat!"

You roll your eyes instinctively. The girl giggles, "I can just see that slacker spirit from how you roll your eyes. And of course from that bed head of yours."

... Another instinctive roll.

"Don't let it get to you. The students at Meguro High are famous for their gossip!"

She taps her chin as if she's trying to remember something. Soon, she pulls her fingers away and snaps them, "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! My name's Misako Yamamoto, nice to meet'cha!"

You decide to show _some_ manners and tell her your name.

"Kaito, eh? If you don't mind, I'm going to call you Kite-kun," she replies with a smile.

You have no objections. It's a better nickname than "bed head". The classroom door swings open and the same boy with navy blue hair enters the room. Misako raises her hand to the boy and shouts, "Hey, Hiro-kun, over here!"

The boy walks over and greets Misako.

"Oh... Aren't you that guy I met at the entrance?"

You nod.

"I see you met Misako here." Misako smiles at the mention of her name.

"Anyways, my name is Hiroshi Mori. What's yours?"

You were about to reply to him, but Misako interrupts, "This is Kite-kun!"

"Kite-kun? Oh I see... Another one of your nicknames..."

Misako tilts her head in confusion. Hiroshi sighs and states, "Don't you realize you have a strong tendency to nickname other people? You've done this since grade school."

"Hmm...? Really? I haven't noticed that."

Hiroshi drops the issue and turns to face you again.

"I'm kinda surprised we got a new student. No one ever comes to Hisokuto anymore. Once a prospering town with a strong agricultural foundation. Now a bustling city with arid soil that is struggling to find its strengths. That's life for ya."

The bell rings as he finishes his story. Everyone in the room shuffles to find a seat. Misako decides to find a seat in the middle while Hiroshi takes the front desk in the middle.

... Five minutes into class-time, the teacher breaks into the room. Her long green teal hair trails behind her as she comes in with various folders that she promptly lays on her desk. She fixes her spectacles before addressing the class, "Sorry I'm late! I got stuck in traffic!" She writes her name and the date on the white board behind her in green marker.

"Ms. Yamagishi

April 11th, 2022"

Apparently this is her first year teaching, but she's managed to be the supervisor of both the health and technology clubs.

... The rest of class goes on without a hitch. And so do your other two classes. Well probably, you weren't paying attention.

It's lunchtime. You head over to the school vendor and use what little money you have to buy a sandwich.

You really need a job...

You look around and see everyone enjoying their lunches and their company. You sigh as you tear into the wheaty flesh of the sandwich in your hand. Hopefully the bread gods will forgive you for disgracing one of their children in your filthy mouth.

You locate the stairs you used to reach the second floor and begin climbing. At the top of the stairs, you note two restrooms standing side by side. As usual, one is for males and the other is for females. You decide to take a look in the restroom.

... It's become a bit of a ritual for you. At every school you've ever been to, if the restroom is in bad shape, you've had a relatively easy year. If it's absolutely spotless, the opposite happens. You sigh when you find that the restroom is absolutely spotless with no graffiti in sight. Looks like a fun year ahead of you. You decide to continue on your way, gnawing on your sandwich as you do so.

You eventually find the stairs to the rooftop. And just like every other antisocial loner in popular culture, you decide that it will be best for you to sulk out there and get out of everyone's…

… You quickly close the door. Apparently this school doesn't follow common logic because it appears that the rooftop is actually quite populated. You rub your forehead and decide to just wander about to pass the time.

As soon as you do that, the bell rings. You quickly finish your sandwich... Which did its job. Sort of.

... The next three classes fly by. The only one that you remember being in was the last one and that's because the teacher was absent, leaving only a substitute to prep the class.

You go back to the entrance and find your shoes in the lockers. You take a few minutes to put them on before heading out the door.

The crowd of students diffuse outside the metal front gates. You push your way to the front of the crowd, albeit with some difficulty.

As soon as you're free from the crowd, you let out an audible sigh. Well, that's the first day of school for ya. You lower your head to try and catch your breath.

Your heavy breathing is interrupted when someone say, "Excuse me, young man?"

You look up and see a young police officer with a head of bushy brown hair swayed to the side. He's wearing the trademark gray uniform the Hisokuto policemen wear. He doesn't look to be older than his early twenties. You notice he's holding a few white flowers behind his back.

"Do you know what room number is Ms. Yamagishi's?"

Despite your often indifferent attitude, you've always had respect for the authorities. You were about to give him an answer when...

"Amada!"

The officer cringes at this shout and turns around. A decorated police women approaches the officer. Her black beret covers her short brown hair that curves around her head. She doesn't look to be that much older than the young police officer. You would place her around the mid to late twenties.

She's not wearing the gray uniform, instead it's black and says... Inaba PD?

She barks at the officer, "What do you think you're doing, Amada?!"

"C-captain Satonaka...! I was just..."

"Socializing! What you need is more discipline! No wonder they transferred me over to this place for the year, you're all a bunch of lazy..."

She shakes her head. The officer stammers, "N-no, Captain Satonaka, I was just...!"

"I've heard enough. We're doing some extra training tonight!"

She pulls the officer away by the ear. The officer yelps in pain as he's being dragged off.

... Well that was certainly interesting. You notice the officer has dropped his flowers on the ground. You decide to pick them up. It's a bit ironic seeing a police officer littering. Albeit unintentionally, but littering all the same.

"Hey, Kite-kun over here!"

You look up and see Misako calling to you. Hiroshi is standing right beside her. You decide to walk over there.

"You wanna walk with us Kite-kun? It must be lonely on the first day!"

Hiroshi has no objection and looks forward as if he's itching to go. You decide to take them up on their offer.

... Five minutes into the walk and you've already seen about ten of Misako's acquaintances.

"Hey Tomo-tan!"

"How's it going Taka-kun?"

"Aki-senpai, good luck this year!"

"Oh hi there Ryo-kun!"

"Did you cut your hair Kusu?

... And much much more.

Hiroshi leans over to you and whispers, "See, she nicknames almost everyone. Even people she doesn't know too well."

Misako turns to the two of you and asks, "What are you guys talking about?"

Hiroshi sheepishly laughs, "Oh, nothing!"

Misako raises and eyebrow but says nothing. She takes notice of the flowers you're carrying and asks, "Oh, what are you holding those for, Kite-kun?"

You look down and quickly realize you're still holding these over-glorified plant reproductive organs and quickly try to formulate a plausible excuse inside your head.

Hiroshi rolls his eyes towards you and asks, "Oh, you're one of _those_ types of transfer students."

You attempt to explain yourself, but then you realize you've arrived at your apartment complex.

Hiroshi stares in awe of the absolute horrid conditions of the apartment and simply says, "So... You live here?"

"Wow, Kite-kun has guts!"

You look at both of them in confusion. Hiroshi looks away from the apartment complex and whispers to you, "Don't you know? This is..."

He looks to both sides of him before continuing, "Yakuza territory."

Oh... Is that all? Your face remains as stiff as a rock. You tell them you'll be fine and wave goodbye to them. You have a sorry looking face so people tend to ignore you. Hopefully that'll be enough to deter these, "Yakuza".

As the two of them walk away, Hiroshi looks glances back at you. He quickly turns his head forward once again to continue his walk. You hear him mutter something, but you can't make it out. You ignore this and walk up the stairs to your apartment.

You reach the third floor. Your home is the third door on the right. Before you enter your room, you notice your neighbor's door is open. Curiosity getting the better of you, you decide to take a look.

You see a big, muscular man folding his laundry. His head is shaven and you can see various tattoos decorated all over his half naked body. The one tattoo you can make out is definitely Yakuza related...

The man turns his head to you and you see one of his eyes is covered with an eye patch. You get frightened and run into your apartment.

You sigh in relief.

You decide to rest your behind on your creaky old recliner. This chair is the only thing that has survived all your transitions from one town to the next. You position your seat in front of your tiny TV your uncle gave you. You quickly locate the remote and turn it on.

... Ah the glories of black and white. You flip the channels to find something interesting until the batteries in the remote die. You sigh, but you're too lazy to get up from your seat and find new ones... if you even have some.

So, you decide to settle for whatever's on TV. Which happens to be a Japanese gameshow where wrong answers result in a slap to the nads. What fun.

... You spend quite a lot of time watching men fall to their knees in pain. Last time you checked the clock it was 11:55.

… You find yourself in a dream... You think. It's not like you're thinking to yourself, "This is a dream."

You're surrounded with a vast, flat white landscape surrounded by thin white fog. You wander around aimlessly for who knows how long until you find a figure in the distance.

You race over to the figure, but it simply raises its hand. You stop in your tracks and see the figure is cloaked, but you're suddenly overtaken with a sharp pain in brain. You grab your head as you struggle to endure the pain... but...

You're... surrounded by a familiar feeling. A feeling of impending doom... You open up your eyes in a car. For some reason the fabric in the car is eerily familiar. You look forward and...!

You find your dad driving your car, while your mother is making cute (that are somehow insulting at the same time) faces at you.

… It can't be.

That false sense of security you felt that day is swept away when you hear a loud crash. In response you cover your face with both your hands. When the subsequent noise is gone you pull away your hands slowly.

... Your hands shake as their being pulled away and they feel... wet. You open your eyes once your hands are in arm's length and find them absolutely drenched in blood. A sudden chill runs up your spine. You tilt your head to take a look behind your hands and find both your parents lying dead on the floor. This is... your parents' blood...! Horrified by this, another sharp pain comes to your brain. You struggle to contain it, but you impulsively bring your hands to your head again. As soon as you do that, from the corner of your eye, you can see the blood dripping down the side of your face.

This is that moment... that changed your life forever...

The pain is too unbearable...!

The horror of finding your parents dead was something you never wanted to experience again. You feel your heart sinking as the pain and your tears synchronize in intensity. Your head convulses with such intensity, it feels like your mind is about to burst.

You throw out your hands in front of you and yell in pain towards the heavens. You take a look at your hands again but this time... Something is in it...

It's a card... It depicts a mask with a dark and light side in front of a blue background. Somehow you're calmed by this card and... A word appears in your mind.

You've never heard this word before yet you're compelled to say it... This three syllable word...

As you shed your last tear, you catch your breath and say...

"Per… So… Na…"


	2. Chapter 2: Awakening

**Chapter 2: Awakening**

You feel something inside of you emerge out from behind you. A great sensation of relief overcomes you as you still scream the last syllable until it sounds more like a roar than a yell.

You find yourself surrounded by blue mist and clear glass shards that swirl around you. You try to catch your breath as you find the cloaked figure standing in front of you.

You feel... a presence behind you. Suddenly a booming voice fills your ears.

"Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of your soul I come forth...!

I am Odysseus, The Lost Seaman"

You feel safe when he says these words. You glance behind you and see a towering man, about two stories high, floating behind you. The blue mist is swirling around him violently. You can see a large claymore attached to his waist of the left side and a spear and bow hanging on his back. His long white hair covers his face and moves along the currents of the blue mist. He bares his bronzed chest while only long white trousers cover the bottom half of his body. The cloaked figure says nothing. You grin at the power you have just obtained until...

Your tears, they've come back and this time, with much greater intensity...! The painful sensation comes back as well and you grab your head in recoil. From what little you can see, the blue mist transforms into red flames and Odysseus roars with deafening volume.

You can hear the cloaked figure grunt something indecipherable.

The figure disappears, leaving you to revel in your pain. You scream as the stream of tears won't stop. The tears eventually find your way into your mouth. They taste... salty...

You can feel that your eyes are open... but you can't see anything out of them...

* * *

... You find yourself sitting in a wooden chair. Your head is looking down and you see a wooden floor. It's not hardwood, it's more like the plank floors they used in the olden days but, it's velvet for some reason. You raise your head up and view your surroundings. Once your eyes adjust to the light, you find yourself on a wooden sailing ship colored velvet. Even the sails are some shade of the color. A blue storm surrounds the ship, making you unable to see a few meters past the ship. You appear to be on the poop deck.

You look forward and see the steering wheel of the vessel. Someone is behind the wheel, with his hands making simple turns with the wheel. He's wearing a black tuxedo, which is rather odd, though he is wearing a velvet pirate hat which fits the atmosphere.

... Oh, and he has a freakishly long nose. He notices you and greets you in a calm voice.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room.

My name is Igor and I shall be your host. Or captain if you prefer.

Now then, I summoned you here because I saw you had recently experienced the power of a Persona. You look confused, but do not be concerned. Just know that a Persona is a part of oneself that one controls to face their life's hardships."

Persona... Is that what you summoned back there?

Igor nods and tells you, "Yes, your Persona is an extension of yourself. Its powers are near limitless. However, you have a great power as well. You posses the power of the "Wildcard". With this power, you will be able to wield multiple Personas at once. Think of it as the number zero. Empty, but full of possibilities."

What. He lost you...

Alright, but why did you get one in the first place? This is some crazy dream right now...

"Ah, that is a difficult question to answer. Some people have a natural affinity to their Persona. But for some, it comes out of necessity. I can see that the coming year is a turning point in your destiny and your Persona will help guide the way. But will that destiny be one of your own choosing...?"he say, grinning with an eerie smile.

Igor closes his eyes before continuing, "However, I must point out one thing. Unlike my other guests, you control your Persona through your emotions. Emotions are very powerful things and thus, you can control Personas of great strength. However, emotions are also very fickle and it is not uncommon for one to lose control. A Persona that is drunk off the power of extreme emotion can rebel against its master and become 'Rogue'."

Geez, this is one detailed dream. You didn't know your mind was capable of conjuring up such ludicrous thoughts.

"One last thing. If you wish to seek more mastery over your Persona, you must seek to form bonds. These bonds will help you master your Persona and possibly, steer you towards your destiny.

I know this must be quite a lot of information for you to process, so I'll let you go. In time, you will need my services, and I shall be here with baited breath. You will also see my assistant, or should I say 'first mate'?"

Igor tips his hat before taking it off and holding it up in one swift motion. With a sinister smirk he says, "Farewell!"


	3. Chapter 3: Dilemma

**Chapter 3: Dilemma**

... You wake up with a cold sweat. You gasp heavily as you try to regain your composure. Was that just now... just a dream...? Or something else?

You notice the TV is still on. A Junes commercial is playing. Its mascot, a red, white, and blue bear is singing the Junes slogan.

"Every day's great at your Junes~!"

You check the clock and find it's 7:25.

Oh_ craptastic_, you gotta get to school...!

* * *

The school bell soon rings and the students pour into the classroom. You find your seat and take a rest. You close your eyes and lay back on the desk seat. When you open your eyes again, all the desks are filled except one... Misako's. Ms. Yamagishi repeatably calls out her name but no one answers.

... Once homeroom ends, the students take a few moments to gossip to each other.

"Yo, Misako isn't here today."  
"Yeah, I heard she was sick today."  
"Maybe she got that new sleeping disease thing that's been going around..."  
"Oh no...!"

Pfft... Yeah right. "Sleeping disease". What a load of hogwash. You roll your head on your desk and sigh. Another day in school. Today's going to be a drag.

* * *

... The next two classes fly by. You finally realize that the first was a Math class, while the other was an English class. Tch, English. What kinda moonspeak is that?

In any case, it's lunchtime. But for some reason, you're not feeling very hungry. That's good. Now you can save your money...

Well, you better try and find somewhere relatively isolated so you don't bother people. And vice-versa.

And so, you decide to take a nap somewhere. Preferably somewhere comfortable. That secluded tree over there looks nice. You doubt anyone will proactively search for you over there so it's a perfect spot.

You walk over to the tree and circle it. The broad green leaves of the tree provide ample shade, giving shelter from the high temperatures of pre-summer. You lay your back on the bark of the tree and slide down, sighing as the rough surface scratches your back.

Your head hits the bark and you roll it to the right. Then you find out you're not alone.

"Haaaaaaiiiiii..." she says with a big yawn, leaving her mouth agape.

Judging by her chest and light complexion, it's a girl. Her dark gray hair is cut into a short bob cut, though is hard to tell since it looks like an absolute mess. Hell, it sort of reminds you of your hair when you look in the mirror in the morning.

She turns her head to you with empty eyes and looks utterly clueless when she says, "You're not Mi... Didn't know anyone else knew about my napping place..."

Her eyes blink for a few moments before she looks away from you, seemingly distracted by something else.

Well this place is no good, there's someone here. Better find somewhere else... But this is the only tree with the perfect amount of shade!

She shrugs and says, "Do whatever you want..." She yawns.

Well, you suppose you can always try and sleep on the other side of the tree. She doesn't seem to mind your presence too much so it shouldn't trouble her, or you for that matter, too much. You circle around the tree and slide down against the tree's trunk before closing your eyes and start your descent into sleep.

...

No good, knowing that someone else is here makes you a bit nervous, especially since it's a girl. You reposition your body and hope to find a comfortable sleeping posture.

"I thought you said you were going to take a nap... Not sleepy?

Try holding your breath, that works for me."

You swing your head around the tree and look at her curiously. She demonstrates her technique by taking a deep breath and holding her breath in her mouth. A couple seconds pass by before her mouth opens again and a snoring sound emerges. You look up to her eyes and find them closed shut. She's either sleeping or she's dead. No, she can't be dead... Her chest is still expanding and contracting in relation to her breathing.

What a strange girl.

You stay put and look around, as if waiting for something, but you know you have nothing to do. You still don't feel comfortable going to sleep with this girl here.

You sigh. What should you do?

You decide to humor yourself by following the girl's advice and holding your breath. Of course nothing really results from it, but it makes for a good chuckle. You then proceed to stare off into blank space...

* * *

... You are awakened by your ringing cell phone. You bring your hands up to your eyes and rub them before reaching for your phone. You tilt your head to the right and only find a depressed patch of grass where that girl was once sleeping. She probably left.

In any case, you answer the phone.

"Hello, we are calling you because you requested a diabetes care package. We just need to verify..."

You hang up and groan. You should have known better. No one calls your cell phone besides the occasional relative. Ugh, whatever...

* * *

"Hey, wait up!"

There goes having a quiet walk home... You turn your head around and find Hiroshi walking up to you. With a fake smile (you're an expert at those) you greet him.

"Thanks. Without Misako around, my day's been pretty quiet. It's nice for a while before I start missing her."

Oh right, that girl from yesterday. Come to think of it, she didn't come to school today. Something the matter?

"Oh, she told me she had to take care of some stuff at home. Nothing to worry about."

Figures. Real life is never interesting. And it probably wasn't your business to ask anyways.

You and Hiroshi continue walking side by side until the two of you need to part ways.

You walk into your apartment absolutely exhausted. Being too lazy to think, you immediately jump into your futon to prepare for tomorrow. You have no trouble falling asleep instantaneously.

* * *

... You find yourself surrounded by thin mist. Is this... another dream? You realize that your thoughts and experiences right now are extremely vivid and lucid. It's almost as if you're in the real world... but you're not... Where are you? You hope that this doesn't have to do with that weird ass dream you had yesterday.

Without thinking, you start walking off. You have no idea where you're going, but it's better than staying here.

...

How long have you been walking? You can't tell. It's as if your sense of time is completely useless in this place. And you still have no idea where the hell you... What the hell is that?

In the distance, wrapped in a blanket of fog, there appears to be large tower. You can't make out any details though. You approach cautiously and slowly but surely, the finer points of the object make themselves clear.

It _is_ some sort of tower. You never seen anything like it. If you were to associate it with something, you would say it resembles the leaning tower of Pisa, only not leaning. And like the tower of Pisa, there are various openings throughout the structure that appear to be windows. But not only that... There seems to a... dark, shadowy aura surrounding it. What the hell is this...?

**_Run._**

... Is that a voice?

**_Run. They're coming for you._**

What? Who's coming for you?

**_Run._**

Before you can question the voice again, you hear a low growl from behind you. You turn your head slowly and find a corpse lying on the floor, drenched in blood.

W-what... What the...

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!


	4. Chapter 4: Ambush

A familiar smell surrounds the area. You can't remember, but you know this... **UGH...!**

Your head convulses suddenly and you grab it with both your hands. You can feel your eyes tremble in their sockets as you fall down onto your knees, making the cold, hard floor produce a dull echo.

Crap... Crap... This is... the smell of something horrible... This is a smell devoid of life. This is the smell of death.

Your eyes slowly rise up and you see the corpse's miserable condition. Half of its upper body is literally gone, almost as if it had been vaporized. The remaining half isn't exactly pretty to look at. Pieces of muscle tendons and ligaments are scattered in a polka-dot formation. The two legs are still intact, but black liquid is... Wait, black...? That... isn't exactly the color you associate with a corpse, right?

You hadn't noticed it before, but the corpse appears to be completely black. So much so, that it appears to be more like a shadow than anything. And another thing... There is a dark blue mask situated on its head. From here you can clearly see, "XII" inscribed.

It's official. You're in another crazy dream. But you've never seen this corpse before, at least... You think so. Still, you severely doubt that you would forget a sight in the first place. Unless this is your brain's crazy idea of...

Was that... a growl?

You glance behind you and find that the corpse is up and at it. Without hesitation, it dashes forward and attempts to latch onto you. Instinctively, you step to the side and avoid your assailant.

Your mind can barely process what happened just now. The corpse is moving? But how and why is it... Crap, you can't think with your heart wanting to burst out of your chest. With no other options left, you decide to make a run for it.

* * *

Huff... huff...

Somehow you managed to enter the tower and seal off the entrance so Mr. Zombie couldn't get to you. You don't know why you ran so fast though. The thing was actually pretty slow. In any case, you decide to lean on a nearby wall and figure out your next course of action.

... Been a while since you've had a nightmare. Although you don't remember your dreams being so damn detailed. Usually your nightmares are simple like getting beat up by a tricycle gang, finding out that all your food was gone from the fridge, and swimming.

But instead of simple, you're presented with an elaborate lobby, much like those found in fancy castles. Above you is a glass chandelier and underneath you is a red carpet. You wouldn't have guessed the interior looked this nice, judging by the exterior. Before you are six pearl white columns situated to the side of you to present a view of a gloriously grand staircase that would make your late great-uncle (who made a small fortune off making cupholders for various objects), blush.

After a moment of deliberation, you decide to venture in and see what's up with this place. You don't really have any options at this point. So, like all journeys, you begin yours with a single step and...

All of the sudden, the chandelier crashes down and lands five feet in front of you. You topple backwards and look in horror as something emerges from the center of the fallen chandelier.

Your eyes can't identify what it is. It looks like a big blob... But you can't make out any details. Nevertheless, the sheer presence of this thing is staggering. You can feel your bones tremble in fear.

In a nanosecond, you see something fly towards you and subsequently pierce your stomach all the way through.


	5. Chapter 5: Slumber

... You feel someone... carrying you.

You have no idea where you are. The only thing you can see is a bright light in the distance. You soon notice that you are getting closer to the light. Before long, the light envelops you with a warm feeling of safety.

* * *

You find yourself lying on your back. God, can someone turn off the light? It's getting obnoxious.

You groan as you lift yourself off the floor, only to find that you again, have no idea where you are. You look around and find nothing familiar. But you do find something rather... interesting.

You walk forward and find a sort of hazy cloud. Within the wisps of moist droplets of cold liquid you find a scene playing. From the looks of it, there's a man being overtaken by some shadowy beings and... wait a minute. That guy looks familiar...

...

He looks strangely like your neighbor from across the hall. You've only seen him briefly, but that tattoo is pretty telling. You can only wonder why he's...

"Looks like you're awake."

You turn around quickly and find... yourself?

"Geez, it was such a pain having to carry you. You know we hate physical labor, right?"

You back away slowly, not knowing what to think at this point. What the hell is going on? Why the hell does he look like you?

Your slow retreat quickly evolves into a full-fledged sprint. You gotta get out of thi-SHIT...!

Your body hurls forward as you feel something swallowing it whole. However. something grabs you by the neck and pulls you in with one swift motion.

"You probably don't want to go there. Pretty ugly stuff."

You lay down on the floor for a few moments to calm down before you yell in frustration. What the hell is going on?!

"Oh geez, this is going to take a while," your doppelganger says, crouching down to meet you. He puts his hand out and smiles, "Hello, my name is Kaito Kiyomizu and I believe that's your's as well." You look at his hand in confusion before he withdraws it and says, "Alright now that introductions are..."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. How the hell are there two of you here?

"Well, I'm not exactly you. I'm like... your subconscious I guess. We haven't talked before because usually I'm up here," he says, gesturing to his head.

"Anyways, long story short, you got busted up pretty bad in your dream, so I had to hurry up and pull you out of there."

... Okay. Sounds strangely plausible, but where the hell are you now?

"I... honestly don't know. But I do know this. Apparently those cloud thingies over there show things. I think they're people's dreams, but I can't say for sure," he states, casually scratching the back of his head.

"If you really want to, you can try and go into one of them, but I'm not sure if you can come back."

Well you certainly don't want to do that. You sigh.

"You seem to be taking this a bit lightly. Usually by now you'd be panicking and cursing in your mind."

Whatever, this is a dream, right? Everything that's happened so far won't matter in the long run. However, your doppelganger (henceforth referred to as Kaito II for the sake of simplicity) seems to have a look that says otherwise and...

* * *

You hear the sound of a door being kicked in. A male voice rings out, followed by a female one.

"Hold on, Paramedics are on the way now!"  
"YOU IDIOT, THIS IS THE WRONG ROOM!"  
"W-what?! I'm sorry Captain, it won't happen ag-"

The door is then closed in a surprisingly gentle way. What was that all about?

You roll out of bed and groan. This is some way to start the day. You better get off your lazy ass and get to school. You push yourself up and stagger up onto your feet and sigh. According to the clock on your desk, you're not late yet, so you suppose there's some good that will come out of this day.

... After brushing your teeth and getting dressed, you are primed to go to school. You approach the door and prepare to open it, but you stop in your tracks when you hear something said in hushed whispers on the other side.

"Man, I didn't think this thing was for real. Who heard of a sleeping virus?"  
"Luckily it's only happened to a few guys so far. Can't risk public panic right now before the meds know what we're dealing with."  
"I think it's a bit too late for that. Word is there's a rumor about this virus spreading like wild..."  
"Hey, get back to work!"  
"Y-yes Ma'am!"  
"Man, this Satonaka chick is fierce..."

... Huh.

You open the door and find that the room across the hall from yours has been busted in. However the inside looks completely intact. Weird. Doesn't look like a robbery. So then what...

"Move along kid, nothing to see here."

Without any warning at all, you're pushed out onto the street like a stray puppy. Whatever, there probably wasn't anything interesting anyways.

Out on the street there's some people crowded around something. There's some police tape preventing the crowd from moving any further. Apparently there was some sort of medical emergency since there's an ambulance and all. You decide to ignore the commotion and get on your way. However, curiosity has gotten the best of you and you glance back.

In that single glance, you catch the paramedics loading up the poor sucker into ambulance. However, the patient looks familiar. And the elaborate tattoo on his righ arm confirms your suspicions. That's your neighbor on the gurney. But... he doesn't look like he's in pain or anything. Far from it actually.

It looks like he's sleeping.


End file.
